Darkness into Light
by Elandil
Summary: After the war against Voldemort, Harry thought that he would finally have a normal year, but when a strange light grabs him and three of his friends from the middle of one of Binn's lessons, he is set to learn that there are some things in history that you can't learn out of a text book, though it seems that Hermione would violently disagree...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and a few OCs, everything else belongs to J.K Rowling.**

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Standing shoulder to shoulder with her friends, the young Dutch druid tried to muster all of her courage, her left hand tightening on the ivory smooth handle of her wand even as her right readjusted its grip on the long hilt of her sword. Over in the distance behind the loose line the four of them had created, a child screamed and she almost felt her heart stop. How it had ever come to this, she had no idea, but now that it had, she was sure that she would stand and fight. Even as the air began to freeze around her, she and her companions stood firm. Off to the side she heard the soft muttering of Rowena as the Celt tried desperately to think of some solution to this problem even as the ragged black shadows came into sight, drifting towards them. In the back of her mind, long forgotten memories began to stir, despite her best efforts to ruthlessly force them aside.

Every second brought the demons closer and closer to the place they were to stage their last stand in this blasted war, and with their presence came the bitter wind that seemed to drag the very life out of the air around them. Demetors, the devil's spawn. Back by the castle a loud explosion signalled that the wards they had placed around the castle and their students were being attacked by the main force of this task, confirming their suspicions that this had been a distraction, however, the lack of pain meant that they had stood firm against the assault. A quick feeling of relief washed through her as the wards did not even flicker under the barrage of curses thrown at them, though the emotion was soon pulled from her and she was acutely reminded of the creatures that needed to be stopped. Glancing right she saw Godric scowl and level his sword even as he nodded, giving the long awaited signal.

As one, the four of them sprang forwards, lashing out with both blades and magic, desperation lending strength to their attacks, though each movement become more and more sluggish, the air around them leeching the energy from their bones. It was like moving through thick mud and the young woman could not stop the wave of despair that crashed over her. Why did they even believe that they could win? There were only four of them against a whole army of enemies, there was no way they could defend the children… but that did not mean that they could not give it their all anyway.

All around her, the night air was lit up by countless coloured beams though they seemed to have very little effect on the monstrosities that just kept edging closer, despite the best efforts of them all and her sense of hopelessness only grew with each passing second. The flashes of silver could occasionally be seen as the swords caught the light of the curses, but the metal did little more to deter the beasts than the magic and, when a searing pain flashed through her chest, she had to clamp down on the sick feeling to stop the tears from blurring her vision, the last protection of their students had fallen.

"Salazar, Rowena… protect the school, maybe if you can stop enough of his minions, the fool will withdraw. Go!"

The sharp bark of the famed battle mage sent the other two off towards the large stone monument they had been protecting, and Helga could not help fearing that that would be the last memory she would ever have of her friends, their cloaks flowing behind them as they darted up the lawn and into another battlefield. Before long, she was standing back to back with her oldest friend as they tried to hold off an enemy they could never wish to beat. Her arms burned from the strain of keeping them moving for such a long time, and her magic reserves were flagging in a way that reminded her of another time a long while ago back in her home land. The day her life fell apart before her very eyes…

_Buildings that she had known since she was a small child smoked all around her, nothing more than smouldering ruins, but she paid no heed of these as her burned feet carried her down the shattered stone path way. Each step brought her more pain and more tears distorted her vision, but she couldn't bring herself to stop until she reached the largest building in the village._

_The temple that had been her home for as long as she could remember was nothing more than a few broken stones and cracked wooden beams. Bodies laid scattered across the ground in a haphazard manner and when she reached the nearest one, shock drove her to her knees, her torn skirts pooling on the ground her as she leaned forwards to ascertain what her eyes were telling her._

_Master Gaius, the chief priest of their druidic temple and the closest thing she had left to a father lay broken on the very foundations he had once blessed on a daily basis, the thin trails of blood slowly turning his white hair a dark crimson. It was a picture she would never forget._

_As she knelt there, both of her small hands gripping one of his cold, wrinkled ones and allowing her grief to overcome her, he had awoken for the last time, shifting gingerly, each twitch filled with pain that filled his face, though he did not stop until he had pulled the pendant of the chiefs from around his neck and pressed into her shaking palms, naming her the heir to a settlement that no longer existed, but she accepted it anyway. She had nodded as she clutched the metal disc firmly and he had smiled as he took his last breath, leaving the 9 year old girl alone for the first time as he fell limp in her arms. For a long time she would not move, sitting there and holding him close in a last embrace until the night had long since fallen and her muscles ached from the strain._

With a gasp, Helga felt her foot slip, sending her tumbling to the ground and pulling her out of the memory that the dementors had evoked in her mind, and dimly she became aware that the tears streaming down her frozen cheeks were not just from the memory. A muttered oath drew her eyes to Godric as he stepped in front of her, keeping her safe even as his sword swings slowed and the spells from his wand became infrequent before he too stumbled on the slick ground. Despite her frantic searching, she could not find her wand anywhere, and the effect of the demons had her fighting the urge to just lay back and accept death, but they couldn't!

An icy chill that almost burned had her clutching at her throat, her fingers closing around the pendant that had rested there undisturbed for the last 10 years, but was now crackling with a strain of magic she had never felt before. The second she her skin came into contact with the disk however, a strange feeling darted through her that drained her energy and sent her crashing back to the ground.

As she lay there, unable to move and feeling as though a great weight was pushing her back down in to the earth below her, she could only watch as one of those monsters drifted closer, lowering its hood to reveal a face of fetid grey flesh that was only broken my a black hole where the mouth should be… a hole that was pulling in a deep rattling breath that made her shiver despite her previous paralysis. Not wanting to see death as it came, she closed her eyes and screwed her mouth shut, resigning herself to never seeing any of her dearest friends again as she waited. However, a strangled shout from Godric had her eyes snapping open reflexively before she quickly closed them to avoid being blinded by the bright white light that seemed to be chasing the dementors away.

When her eyes had finally adjusted to the new arrival and she no longer had to squint, the dementors were not within her sight and, instead, were replaced by a quartet of ethereal animals that almost seemed to make the air warmer just by their presence, though that may have just been an effect of the absence of the monstrosities in the dark cloaks. Looking closer, she could see Godric stepping forwards, his hand raised tentatively to touch the nearest of these creatures… a large stag with full antlers and a large eagle perched proudly on its back. Slowly, she managed to push herself to her feet, though the effort made the world swim before her eyes, so that she could examine their rescuers properly. A stag, otter, eagle and horse… all of them glowing like a unicorn. They were beautiful .

She was about to do the same as her friend and reach out to touch them before a shout off to their left drew their attention and the animals seemed to respond to it like a command, running back towards the sound and illuminating the small group who were rushing towards where she and Godric stood in a confused daze. The leader seemed to be the tall boy with bright green eyes who greeted the stag as an old friend before looking the two of them over closely.

As the new arrivals seemed to examine her, she took the opportunity to look them over herself. There were four of them, none of whom looked any older than her, though they were all battle worn and covered in battle scars that she had never seen on any so young before. Each of them was strangely dressed, the girls immodestly so as she could clearly see their knees through the outer robes they were wearing , though they seemed comfortable in the clothing as though they wore it every day.

Seeing as though she was watching them so closely, she clearly saw the green eyed boy's gaze flicker to the slightly taller girl beside him, the one who was cradling the otter in her arms, a question in his gaze, and she saw when the girl shot him a worried frown back before stepping forwards to speak, however, the words made no sense to her.

Obviously snapping out of his reverie upon hearing the girl's voice, Godric stepped forwards, eyeing them suspiciously, though the relief in his countenance could not easily have been missed.

"Who are you young ones, and why are you here?"

It was a little sharp, and rude given the fact that these four had just saved them, but Helga let it slip given the present circumstances, as well as the fact that the four of them did not seem to comprehend what had been said to them. Now all three of them were looking imploringly at the brown haired girl who's eyes had blown wide in disbelief. Quick as a flash she had her wand out, causing the battle mage in front of her to fall back into a defensive stance, but she only waved it in a strange motion, muttering something under her breath before turning to them and speaking slightly louder.

"Did it work?"

Her pronunciation of the English language was strange, but at least now it was understandable and Helga nodded to her smiling warmly at the ones who had likely just saved their lives.

"Yes it did… though I have never heard of a charm that could do that before. Not that we are ungrateful for your aid, but, who are you all? I do not recall ever having met you before. "

At this the girl frowned once again shaking her head in a way very similar to Rowena when there was a puzzle that she could not find an answer to. Instead, it was the green eyed boy that answered, though his eyes kept flickering over the two of them as though uncertain who to focus on, his hand clutching his wand tighter as he drew attention back to himself.

"We are just some people passing through but… what is happening here? Why were the dementors after you? They normally don't attack people like that."

What did he mean, 'they did not attack people'? Dementors had always been drawn to the living, and the attacks had become even more frequent now that they had sworn their allegiance to the dark lord Samahin. Still, if they had helped the two of them before, they could very well help them again and the druid found herself scanning their auras to find any hint of malevolence, but all she could find was a hint of concern that had her smiling once again.

"You must be aware that you are in the grounds of Hogwarts surely… and it is no secret that the dark lord is targeting the school. This night he has decided to attack, and the dementors were here to keep us distracted from helping the students. My name is Helga Hufflepuff and this is my friend Godric, we are two of the founders of this school which is why we were targeted. Will you aid us in this fight?"

It seemed as though her words had turned the four to stone as they gazed upon her in various stages of shock before all turning back to the boy once again, confirming her first thought that he was the leader of their small group. One by one, the glowing animals seemed to fade away as their hosts released the spell now that the danger had gone and still the seconds dragged on until the red haired witch doubled over laughing.

"What was that you said about having a quiet year Harry?"

At this, the others seemed to come out of their trances and join in with the laughter all but for the boy, Harry, who merely tilted his head up to the sky as though glaring at the moon, muttering a curse under his breath before stating in a flat monotone something that seemed to make the others laugh harder, though it only confused the two founders of Hogwarts who were looking at them as though fearing for their sanity.

"I swear, what did I do in my past life to deserve this?"

Managing to straighten up, the red head stepped forwards and looped her arm around his shoulders in an inappropriately intimate gesture before grinning up at him.

"Everything Harry, absolutely everything."

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**There you go, I hope you liked it. I know I shouldn't be writing any more new stories right about now, but this plot bunny was practically driving me mad as it wouldn't leave me alone. Review? Please?**


	2. Chapter 2

Despite the superficial damage done to the castle in the course of the last battle, the reparation of Hogwarts didn't actually take all that long and the school, after a few last minute appointments, was finally open for lessons the same year as the attack had been. Because of the disruption of the last year, all the students who had missed out on schooling were invited back to the school, whether they were old enough to have graduated or not, to finish their exams, but the ghosts of the war still clung to the memories of all those involved with the actual fighting, and out of the hundred students invited, only a handful of them had actually returned.

As it was, there were so few of them, the headmistress had decided to lose the house system for the returning students, instead placing all of them in a common room that had been created specifically for them. At first, several members of staff had voiced concerns that this was not the best of ideas, considering the presence of many of the old rivals, such as Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, and they had claimed that there would be students killed in their beds before the end of the year, but no one had actually expected the outcome that really occurred. Without the inter-house rivalries ( all of the older students had been put in a 5th house christened Tempus in a tongue in cheek matter) and the stresses of the war, the 20 students in the house had banded together and become invaluable to the teaching staff of Hogwarts. For Harry and Hermione, the only thing that would have made the whole situation better would have been if Ron had returned with them, but he had chosen to stay with George, helping their brother with the shop and other… issues.

At first it had been strange walking to class through the halls that he had last seen filled with the desperate struggle that the last battle had brought about, and it had made him far jumpier than normal, but eventually, with the support of Hermione, Ginny and Luna mostly, Harry had eventually relaxed and been able to once again enjoy his Hogwarts days. He had even been able to fall back into his quidditch obsession, taking on the job of seeker once again. Considering the members of the team (Malfoy had actually turned out to be a pretty good chaser once he decided to work with others) it was no surprise that the Tempus house team dominated the quidditch cup throughout the year, and despite their lack of numbers, they seemed set to win the house cup as well at the end of the year. As it was, as the exams and the end of the year began to draw closer, it seemed as though Harry and his friends had finally been able to have a calm, normal school year. Well, that was until the study session about a month before their final NEWT exams.

They had been researching influential wizarding families through time for a project for their history of magic class, now taught by Professor Saturn who managed to make the subject come alive to the disillusioned students (sometimes quite literally) when they came across the blood lines book. It was Neville that found it, as he looked through one of the dusty corners of the school library, or, more accurately, he tripped over it. Bringing it back to the table where Ginny, Harry and Hermione were still working on their giant piece of parchment, he set it down gently and called their attention to the page that had caught his interest in the first place.

"Guys… look at this, it's called a bloodline spell. According to the book, you can use it to create a family tree, stopping at your most notable ancestor. You think Saturn might be interested in it?"

And that was how it all started, Harry decided as he stared down at the youthful face of one of the (long dead) Hogwarts founders, finding no trace of deception in her soft blue eyes. He wasn't sure how it was linked exactly, but it had to be something to do with that spell that the four of them had decided to try out as a lark, there could be no other reason for them being in this completely ridiculous situation. Sighing heavily, he turned back to face Hermione, silently begging her to come up with some sort of solution to this problem, pointedly ignoring the red head who was still clutching his arm as she giggled constantly. Unfortunately, this seemed like the one time that the girl genius had run dry of idea's, just brilliant!

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Godric stood there in silence, observing the new arrivals wearily as they seemed to try and find an answer to Helga's statement, though the young prince was having a hard time repressing the questions that wanted to pour off of his tongue. These newcomers were strange, they wore robes much like their students did, though they were not nearly as modest and he was sure that none of their houses had purple and white livery or a phoenix as their symbol. Both of the girls were pretty little things, though their robes displayed enough skin to make him blush so he quickly shifted his attention from them to the green eyed boy who seemed to be the leader of their little group.

It was obvious that these fighters were powerful, he could practically taste the magic in the air around them, and from their bearing it was clear that they were all familiar with conflict though they could be little older than the small druid at his side, if that. And they knew of them, that was clear from their reactions, which made it all the stranger that Godric didn't recognise any of them, though the feeling that he got from the green eyed boy was remarkably similar to the one he felt around Salazar and it was more than a little disconcerting.

After what appeared to be a silent conversation between the 4 of them (now that the youngest girl had finally stopped laughing) the green eyed boy… Harry he had been called earlier… turned back to face the two of them, running his hand through his hair in a nervous manner before answered them, sighing as he did so.

"You don't seem to be lying, so I guess you were telling us the truth earlier. If you need our help, then you have it. Where is the battle?"

In his inspection of the strangers, Godric had almost forgotten about the war that was being waged behind them, but now that they mentioned it, the faint crashes that could be heard in the background became all that he could think about it. The promise of aid was enough to make him almost faint with relief, but that was something that they had no time for at that moment. Instead, he merely jerked his head back towards the castle where sparks of light from the combatants could just about be seen in the night sky, drawing the attention of the teens before them to that spot. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry smile sadly and give all of his friends a questioning look, after he received a short nod from each of them, his expression grew grim.

"Let's go then."

With that, the small group set off at a near sprint across the grassy slopes of the Hogwarts grounds, covering the ground quickly and moving like they knew the area intimately, the 2 founders kept pace easily, growing agitated now that they had been reminded of their friends' plight. Salazar and Rowena had been sent off up to the battle nearly an hour ago and, although they were both skilled warriors in their own right, the situation could not be good for them. Within 10 minutes they were treated to the sight of the battle with bodies strewn everywhere. All along the edges of the forest, cloaked figures could be seen battling with students and teachers alike, it was enough to make Godric's vision turn red.

When he had first seen the number of attackers, his first thought had been relief, Saimhain was not present here, he must have been over confident in the strength of his follows which would work to their advantage, but then he took stock of the number of cloaked figures and his hopes fell. There were too many for them to fight off on their own. All of their own fighters looked exhausted, close to being overwhelmed… but that was before 4 new figures darted into the fighting, splitting up and covering the battlefield like a summer storm, fleeting yet destructive. They were good, that much he could give them. He almost smiled at their courage.

He only took a moment to watch the strangers cut through the little clumps of the duels, cutting down the dark mages as easily as if there was no resistance to their assault, before Helga squeezed his arm, drawing his attention back to the young woman by his side. Her smile turning almost feral again, eyes shining with hope that had not been there before, she tilted her head up to face him.

"Shall we?"

Feeling his own smirk spread across his face, the princeling nodded, and, as one, they ran head long into battle, just like they had so many times before.

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Salazar hated to admit it, but for once he was in a situation that he could not think his way out of, and that in itself was almost more of an irritation than the idea that he would most likely die on this battle field, unable to keep his students safe. He hadn't even wanted to go along with Helga's insane notion of starting a school in the first place, but now that they had started the mad project, he wanted nothing more than to see it through to the end, though that did not change the fact that he was currently surrounded by about 10 enemies who were all firing on him at once. He was good, but he could not keep this up for much longer, his magical reserves were quickly being drained and he knew it. Unfortunately, so did his opponents as they decided on that moment to increase their rate of attack.

Every passing second wore down on him and he was soon gasping for each breath, fighting for each movement and every spell put more and more strain on his flagging reserves. Even though the night was cool, he could feel sweat pouring down his back as his skin began to overheat from exertion. Absently, he wondered if Helga and Godric were still fighting, or if they had succumbed already to the power of the dementors, but he shook the morbid thought out of his head quickly, it would not do to get distracted at this particular moment in time, especially as every time he downed one of his many adversaries, several more stepped up to take their comrade's place. It was like fighting a Hydra, but with the added disadvantage that there was not only one head that shot fire.

He had just about come to terms with his own mortality when he saw it, a flash of gold just off to his left, and then half of his assailants fell to the ground unmoving, their friends were so shocked by this new development that he could easily pick them off while they were still looking for the origin of the curse and, with a new leash of energy, he downed them all before any of them had time to even turn their gaze back from the night unto him. Turning, he expected to meet Godric's jovial grin and a comment on his clumsiness to have got himself in such a situation in the first place, but instead he was faced with a bronze haired girl with soft brown eyes who was looking him up and down, concern evident in her gaze. Evidently deciding that he was in no need of either her concern or her aid, the girl quickly span and ran off over to the nearest knot of fighters, her long curls flowing out behind her like a banner and leaving Salazar behind in his confusion.

When he looked around again, the potions master was both surprised and pleased to see that the tide of the battle had most definitely turned, though he could not place exactly why. All around the field there flashed bright lights and hooded figures fell to the onslaught. Somewhere in the distance he saw the flowing yellow robes of a druid and he almost smiled in relief, if Helga was here and fighting, then that meant that the two of them had been able to drive off the soulless menaces, though he would have to question them on the how later when there was not such a pressing need for their attention. After a few more moments to recover, Salazar too re-joined the fighting and everything became a blur until he was once again looking upon the 3 tired faces of his friends and watching the students gather around the lake to re-group and take stock of the various injuries sustained in the fighting.

Curiously, along with the 3 familiar, though dirt smeared, faces, there was also an addition of a new group, though they all seemed to be vaguely familiar in some way that he could not place. The red haired girl that had saved him before was there however, she was seated on the curve of the hill as a dark haired boy bent over her, apparently healing a large gash on her leg. Off to her side, another boy and a brown haired girl watched on in worry under the careful inspection of the Welsh prince Godric. He would have been interested to find out more about these strangers who had apparently come to aid them in this fight, but at that moment, his vision was obscured by honey-blonde curls as Helga pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

"Oh Sal, thank the gods that you are all right, we were so worried earlier!"

Normally, such a show of sentiment would have been rejected straight off by the cold mage, but after the night they had just had, he felt that he owed it to her to let her assuage her fears of losing any of their little group and begrudgingly wrapped his arms around her slight frame, holding her close with one arm while, with the other, he awkwardly petted her hair. Over the young woman's shoulder, he could see Godric shooting him an amused look, but he ignored it, only rolling his eyes at the man before pushing his new found limpet away slightly.

"I am glad to see you too Helga, though I must ask you, how did you get rid of those demons? When we left, it looked as though you would be over run, yet here you stand, and you were even able to join us in the battle. I cannot help but wonder how such a blessing is possible."

At his words, the light hearted, almost celebratory atmosphere for the whole gathering quickly dissolved, and he noticed that the others, barring Rowena who had leaning heavily on Godric, her face pale with exhaustion, turned to face the newcomers who were standing in a loose group, whispering intently to one another in a language that he could not recognise. However, almost as though sensing the stares being directed to them, the strangers almost immediately broke out of their little meeting and turned to face the founders of Hogwarts, their faces grave. When it became obvious that they had not heard the prior comment and so were not going to be forthcoming with an answer, Salazar felt his eyes narrow into a glare and he stepped forwards.

"Who are you, and why are you helping us? What are your motives here? You dress like our students, but not... are we meant to know you or are you just spies for the dark lord? Answer us truthfully!"

For a few heart beats, there was nothing but silence, but then, the girl from before smirked at him, stepping forwards to force attention onto herself and moving into his personal space, her leg seemingly perfectly healed now. Upon seeing the mad strange glint to the girl's eyes, the older mage found himself taking an involuntary step back. There was something about her countenance that made him feel like he was not going to like what he was about to say, a premonition that was soon proven to be true when she spoke, her accent twisting the words in a strange way and her voice echoing the sing song fashion of a lullaby;

"Well, that all depends… would you believe us if we told you that we came from the future?"

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**A/N: Well, there you have it, the new chapter. To be perfectly honest, I'm no too sure about this particular one, so if you have any feed back on it, I would love to hear it. Anyway, thank you to all those lovely people who favourited, followed or reviewed this story, and, if there is anything in particular that you would like to see in here, drop me a review and I will see what I can do!**


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